Only his close family saw the miracles he performed. He did not broadcast what he did.
There were not many ways to send a message in those days even if he had wanted his message to get out.
It was when a stranger showed up and observed one of his many miracles that his fame went beyond the confines of his little town.
This stranger went to a priest in a neighboring town and began to ask him why there were not miracles in his town.
“The days of miracles are past! was the answer of the astonished priest.
If a miracle worker was among us, don’t you think he would
arise in our synagogue?”
The stranger was not satisfied with the answer of the priest.
He went to the Miracle Worker and arranged for him to come to the neighboring town and speak to a few of its citizens about what was
happening in the adjacent town.
Reluctantly, the Miracle Worker accompanied the stranger.
When they arrived in the next town they noticed the many lame, blind, halt, and twisted bodies of the inhabitants.
“This is not good” the miracle worker averred.
“This is a way of life here” the stranger
informed him.
The Miracle Worker had compassion on the multitudes and began to heal
each one who came to him with an infirmity by the strength of God. The blind saw, the lame walked, the deaf heard, the mute spoke.
This continued as long as the Miracle Worker could stand on his feet, he rested, resuming the process the following day.
Soon word of the Miracle Worker arrived at the local synagogue. The priest felt the importunity of not being able to heal his own
people. His nights were spent in agony. He feared what might happen to his standing in the community if this healing revival continued.
He feared for his own welfare. He began thinking of ways that he might rid himself of the competition.
Meanwhile, the Miracle Worker began, not only to heal the people but also to teach them that they too could have this authority to
cast out sickness. They could actually help each other and not depend on the local elders who had never helped them in any way except
to teach them a law. This law put them in jail, but had no power to release them from their bondage. The Miracle Worker taught them
a way to be released from their bondage.
The priest sent emissaries to spy out, what he
termed, an outrage. The emissaries brought back word that ‘never man spoke like this man’.
“Are you also taken in by this charade? Matthew, what will happen to your job as tax collector? Nicodemus, what will happen to your
job of helping with the priesthood? Marcus, what will become of your job as janitor? If these sham healings continue we will all be
out of a job!”
It had become a matter of economics.
The men could not immediately answer the priest. This would take a considerable amount of weeding out. The actions of the priest would
have to be weighed against those of the Miracle Worker. Some of these men even visited the Miracle Worker after the lights were extinguished
in the city.
The Miracle Worker continued teaching the people to love one another and by
this love they would be able to heal each other. How simple these words seemed.
The priest’s
anger came to a boiling point. He must do something. He knew that he could not kill him outright. He knew that he must use the law.
He must do it in such a way that everything would be legal and above board. He began blaspheming the works of the Miracle Worker.
“This man is telling the locals that there is only one King and that is the one who created
them,” revealed the priest to the local ruler.
“Is he saying that our government is not
good enough?” the prelate replied.
“Yes, that is essentially what he is saying. He even
tells them that the ways that they have been taught are not good ways” the priest replied.
The priest convinced the prelate that the Miracle Worker was enemy to both government and religion. First, the synagogue disbelieved
this man, afterward the government disbelieved him.
After his arrest, the Miracle
Worker was beaten, spat upon, had his clothes torn from his back and was given a crown of thorns to show that he was King of the local
gentry. Later, he was taken out on a hillside and hanged upon a tree.
Could this be happening
again in this modern age? Have our modern churches become so calloused, that if someone worked a good work among them, they would
take him out and flog him and eventually slay him? Are they also worried about losing their paycheck? Should we take a lesson from
the Miracle Worker?
He has risen, you know!